Questions about D25s from Acoustic Guitar Forum

[jgmaute]

There are a couple of guys over on AGF who have found used D25s and are waiting to get their applications approved so they can post questions here. (For those of you not on AGF, when ever there are Guild questions posters LTG is always mentioned as the ultimate source of info.) Is it true that it takes three weeks to get approved here?

Anyway I said I'd post a questions for them until their membership is approved here and they can post for themselves. Basically one has found a 1989 D25 and another has found a 1983 D25M at local shops. I'm really not that familiar with the ins and outs of different years would that M mean solid Mahogany or mahogany stained spruce? Would both of these be arch backs? (Guess they can figure that out by looking.) Am I correct that the arch back gives more volume?

I think both of them are wondering what a fair price would be for the guitars (can't mention prices of guitars on AGF)...so what is the range D25s are going for now?

If you want to see details, here's the link to the AGF thread
Is This Guild Worth $XXX?

Thanks in advance for sharing your expertise and what you love about your D25s...joan

 

[Default]

By that time, they should be stained spruce tops and archbacks. My lost, lamented D-25 was that vintage and was built that way. I remember that it had a chunkier neck that my (newer) D-40 and it was loud. Oy vey, was it loud!

As for the lag time, it kind of depends on how busy dkl is. Since he approves everyone by hand, to keep the spambots out, it takes a bit.

Didn't realize it was that long, though.

 

[GardMan]

I would agree... stained spruce top with laminated mahogany back. A decent, playable D-25 might fetch anywhere from $450-$650 on eBay, and a couple hundred more in shops, depending on condition (in my observations, '70s D-25s sell for a bit more than '80s in comparable condition). I paid ~$550 for my '74 in the summer of '06. D

 

[geoguy]

I agree with the price ranges listed above. One gentle correction to Joan's comments on AGF . . . I think they have laminated sides & backs, not solid sides, correct?

- Mark

 

[GardMan]

I thought only the back was laminated... the cost saving was in not have to join back pieces, add bracing, and then hand cut the kerfed bracing when attaching the back. Not as much cost saving would be realized using laminated sides. I looked in the end-pin hole of my 25, and didn't see signs of laminate. But, I may be wrong. D

 

[Ridgemont]

My acceptance to LTG was within 1-2 days if I remember correctly. I agree with Guardman for the prices. In these parts, I have seen them go anywhere from 400-750 on craigslist. I got mine at a local shop for 600. I always understood the archbacks to have solid sides and a laminated back. Yes the archback makes them project much louder than a regular dread and gives it an increased bottom end. Big boom in the bass.

 

[dreadnut]

'74 was the transition from flat to arched back and from mahogany to spruce top. In that time frame they were produced with flat backs and 'hog tops, arch backs and 'hog tops, arch backs and spruce tops (the final configuration) and I'm not even sure if there are any D-25 flat backs with spruce tops because at that time, that was the D-35.

Mine is a '76 - by that time they were all arch back and spruce top - and it really does project well, particularly on the bottom end. In fact I'll use it to do little bass runs sometimes if we don't have a bass

 

[Guild Dawg]

I paid a fellow musician $550 for my 1979 D25M about five years ago. It had a little divot on the front, but nothing that affects playability and not through the wood. It really projects with a full sound I like better than the bright jingle jangle you get from other guitars that have less bottom end than the D-25s. I will never sell it.

 

[adorshki]

In fact I'll use it to do little bass runs sometimes if we don't have a bass

:lol: :lol: :lol: I've been calling it "cheater bass" for years!

 

[taabru45]

In fact I'll use it to do little bass runs sometimes if we don't have a bass

:lol: :lol: :lol: I've been calling it "cheater bass" for years!

Do you have a perch for it? Do you have a tuna? :lol: Steffan

 

[killdeer43]

My '79 D25M has the mahogany-stained spruce top and it gets rave reviews for its good looks and loud voice. Projects well across a campfire, too!

I wouldn't mind having another arched back with a natural top. :wink:

Joe

 

[bek]

The hog-top archbacks are the best. I think they only made a few thousand of them, so they're not everywhere. But I think the mahogany top makes them thicker-sounding on the top strings (like Guild Dawg said). I guess they're pretty loud, and the bass is real big (like Dreadnut said!).

 

[Ridgemont]

I was able to gain a little perspective yesterday. I visited a new GC in Houston. It is one of those fancy GCs where they have the museum section with old vintage instruments. Anyway, they had several Gibbys and Martins from the 50s and 60s on the wall. I was able to test drive 3 mid 60s D-18s. I have gotten so used to my D25 being "the" sound of a dread that I walked away a little shocked. The D18s, while possessing great tone, had very little low end. They sounded like small guitars to me! It helped me realize how great the D25s really are. Mine is louder, has more sustain, and way more bass than the $4000+ D18s I tried. Don't get me wrong, those D18s were nice, but sounded small compared to the D25.

 

[killdeer43]

Don't get me wrong, those D18s were nice, but sounded small compared to the D25.

I had a D18 in the early 70s and it wouldn't come close to the sound I get from my D25.
Of course, we must consider the wear and tear on the ears, over the years.

What's that you say? :wink:

Joe

 

[Ridgemont]

Don't get me wrong, those D18s were nice, but sounded small compared to the D25.

I had a D18 in the early 70s and it wouldn't come close to the sound I get from my D25.
Of course, we must consider the wear and tear on the ears, over the years.

What's that you say? :wink:

Joe

Sometimes I question my own hearing. For example, this fancy GC also had a custom Larrivee dread with braz back/sides which was just drop dead gorgeous. I played it of course. To me at that time, it just sounded like any other rosewood dread on the wall. Granted, I do not claim to be a guitar aficionado, but I did not get what all the fuss was about. I wanted to. Maybe it was the vintage strings they had on there. :wink:

 

[adorshki]

In fact I'll use it to do little bass runs sometimes if we don't have a bass

:lol: :lol: :lol: I've been calling it "cheater bass" for years!

Do you have a perch for it? Do you have a tuna? :lol: Steffan

You're fishin' for a comeback here aintcha? SO I'll direct your attention to this little thread:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=18634

 

[dreadnut]

I've relayed this story here before, but I just gotta tell it again. I was practicing with the band at church one day, a local music prof from the congregation was playing brass. (This guy's main instrument is French Horn, but he plays all the other brass instruments, piano, stand-up bass, etc.) The music director is standing next to me with his pristeen Taylor 800 series, and I have my old been-to-a-thousand-campfires D-25M. After we finished a song, the music prof walks across the stage, right past the guy with the Taylor, and says to me: "that's some of the most beautiful tone I've ever heard come out of a guitar, I could hear it all the way across the stage."

I rest my case.

 

[JerryR]

There are a couple of guys over on AGF who have found used D25s and are waiting to get their applications approved so they can post questions here. Is it true that it takes three weeks to get approved here?

Yup - Don's very picky about who he chooses - you should be proud to be let in

Come to think about it he let Carl and Graham in :?

He even let me in :shock:

 

[adorshki]

Yup - Don's very picky about who he chooses - you should be proud to be let in
Come to think about it he let Carl and Graham in :?
He even let me in :shock:

Is it true George HW Bush and Tiger Woods were politely declined?

 

[cuthbert]

Yup - Don's very picky about who he chooses - you should be proud to be let in
Come to think about it he let Carl and Graham in :?
He even let me in :shock:

Is it true George HW Bush and Tiger Woods were politely declined?

I heard that they weren't politely declined, but UNPOLITELY...

This place is more "reserved" than Skulls and Bones.